Concept 1// Buddy Cam

-Background -

So I like watching/listening to Youtube and a lot of it. I use it for informative and entertainment purposes to the point that I barely watch television anymore. I particularly enjoy watching content from the film maker/ vlogger Casey Neistat. Who kind of helped spark this concept into being.

Observing one of his vlogs where he is using his Boosted Skateboard I noticed how he has to operate his remote control on one hand and then hold his vlogging camera in the other normally. And that is the catch with vlogging you normally need to be holding the camera. Now there are hands free rigs but they look bulky and weird and I guess you could use a drone however they are too loud for close proximity shooting. Plus you still need to control the drone.

So I thought of buddy cam, now it’s not the best name but I thought it fit well enough with what it would do and its design.

-What is it?-

Buddy Cam would be an AI powered hybrid drone video camera.

Hover - Like a drone it would use a propeller (a super quiet one, if one was developed) to shoot stable and closer shots at head height at a distance which can be adjusted. With the hovering ability you can use the buddy cam for steady pan shots without having to use a camera dolly.

AI- It would come with pre-programmed shooting styles but be able learn and adapt styles according to user preference and habits (which is where AI comes in). This would negate the need to set it up before use each time, as it would “just know” and be ready to shoot.

Pre-emptive proximity sensors - would enable it to adjust itself and avoid collisions with consideration to the shot e.g. if the path is clear up until a branch 2ft away it will start to align itself to a path to avoid collision beforehand so that the shot isn’t affected as much.

Multiple Cameras - For 360 shooting in order to avoid missing a shot outside of the frame of view should the user want to include it in the final edit. You can use its “focus” feature which would enable it to follow and record a specific person or people and or objects.

Focused microphone -with smart noise cancellation; can detect voice frequency and use smart noise cancellation so that background noise is reduced and bring user voice to the forefront. It can take voice commands and provide information such as battery life, recording light, shoot time etc.

Legs - I am not a camera expert but essentially show the vitals someone using it would need via the preview screen. The folding legs provides flexibility to take manual/stationary shots.

- Use case -

As mentioned it is designed mainly with vlogging in mind and trying to capture a more natural shot.

The key benefit of using it also for action shots is the safety aspect. As it would be allowing the user to focus more on the activity on hand such as skateboarding and talking through the busy streets of New York without concern for the recording.

With the AI feature in mind the potential could be that you can have multiple buddy cams to work together, communicate and record in tangent with one another for recording events from weddings to races.

Final words …

I know a lot of the buddy cam is based on a lot existing ideas that I have merged but I guess the main objective of the buddy cam is that the automated and hands free aspect would hopefully make it much easier and efficient to create great memories.

I would love to hear what you think about the Buddy Cam concept and is there something you would add or change to it?

Thanks for reading :)